Sorry I left this hanging -- this week was a bear workwise, and I probably should have done more to prepare last weekend, but it was much too much fun to talk about HP! Anyway . . .
Why does it so often seem like Maya's Draco is so accurate with friends that are protective of him or sometimes just cut him loose to take his lumps on his own because they're not signing up for that? Or at least they seem to have normal relationships with him
So I'm thinking more about this, and skimming the books for my alleged future post about Draco's brittle relationships, and I came upon the scene in PS/SS when Neville gets his Remembrall from his Gran. This isn't the flying scene, it's the earlier one in the Great Hall when the Remembrall actually arrives by owl. Draco is passing by the Gryffindor table, notices, and snatches the Remembrall out of Neville's hand to look at it. And everyone sort of gets agitated until McGonagall comes along and breaks things up, at which point Draco tosses the ball back and says he was "just looking" at it.
The thing that strikes me here is that Draco's behavior seems both aggressive but also contained, and he comes off as a little less than natural, a little bit contrived. I may be overreading this very short scene, but it sort of feels like he's maybe trying out a kind of dominance behavior that he's heard about but isn't quite smooth at yet. You can imagine Lucius taking him aside and telling him: "Here are some tricks for setting yourself up as over-dog. When you have the opportunity, crowd people's space a little bit. Finger their lapels. Rifle through their things -- not in a threatening way, but like you belong there. If they let you do it, you've got 'em." I mean, poor Draco isn't trying to start an incident here -- he's in the middle of the Great Hall, with scads of teachers all around, it wouldn't make any sense. When he horns in on the scene and helps himself to a close look at Neville's toy, he may actually think he's being suave. And, um, masterful. :P
I thought about whether this was typical of Draco's behavior in a general way, but I think it's more exceptional. Often enough Draco really is pretty suave, in his own way -- he's spontaneous, funny, verbally fluent, clever and effective about scoring his points. Every now and then, though, you seem to catch a glimpse of a kid who is divided from himself, who's trying to be something he isn't comfortable with and doing it badly. The normally competent Draco comes off as someone who might have the Deatheater equivalent of Dale Carnegie stuffed under his mattress, and who studiously takes notes at night when no one can see him.
So his behavior toward Neville in the Great Hall scene maybe doesn't seem like undifferentiated boorishness and overreaching, but more specifically like the behavior of someone who thinks there are particular gimmicks, particular techniques, for "winning friends" (or at least influencing people) that he needs to learn and practice. The offered handshake in PS/SS similarly seems a bit precious for an eleven-year-old -- and doomed by its awkwardness because what self-respecting kid wouldn't turn it down? The almost avuncular tone Draco takes when cautioning the Trio in the QWC forest scene is a bit pompous, and maybe it's hard for a reader to figure this scene out because Draco hasn't figured it out, he's just striking a pose, playing with a role. He's unusually awkward at this stuff because he's not naturally dominant, he's more a natural back-bencher, a clown, a Black rather than a Malfoy. He's more comfortable -- and more effective -- snarking and being funny and coming up with clever pranks to amuse his friends. But something (his father?) drives him to be more, makes him feel discontented with only being part of the crowd.
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Re: (Corrected version of comment)
Date: 2006-12-16 11:50 am (UTC)Why does it so often seem like Maya's Draco is so accurate with friends that are protective of him or sometimes just cut him loose to take his lumps on his own because they're not signing up for that? Or at least they seem to have normal relationships with him
So I'm thinking more about this, and skimming the books for my alleged future post about Draco's brittle relationships, and I came upon the scene in PS/SS when Neville gets his Remembrall from his Gran. This isn't the flying scene, it's the earlier one in the Great Hall when the Remembrall actually arrives by owl. Draco is passing by the Gryffindor table, notices, and snatches the Remembrall out of Neville's hand to look at it. And everyone sort of gets agitated until McGonagall comes along and breaks things up, at which point Draco tosses the ball back and says he was "just looking" at it.
The thing that strikes me here is that Draco's behavior seems both aggressive but also contained, and he comes off as a little less than natural, a little bit contrived. I may be overreading this very short scene, but it sort of feels like he's maybe trying out a kind of dominance behavior that he's heard about but isn't quite smooth at yet. You can imagine Lucius taking him aside and telling him: "Here are some tricks for setting yourself up as over-dog. When you have the opportunity, crowd people's space a little bit. Finger their lapels. Rifle through their things -- not in a threatening way, but like you belong there. If they let you do it, you've got 'em." I mean, poor Draco isn't trying to start an incident here -- he's in the middle of the Great Hall, with scads of teachers all around, it wouldn't make any sense. When he horns in on the scene and helps himself to a close look at Neville's toy, he may actually think he's being suave. And, um, masterful. :P
I thought about whether this was typical of Draco's behavior in a general way, but I think it's more exceptional. Often enough Draco really is pretty suave, in his own way -- he's spontaneous, funny, verbally fluent, clever and effective about scoring his points. Every now and then, though, you seem to catch a glimpse of a kid who is divided from himself, who's trying to be something he isn't comfortable with and doing it badly. The normally competent Draco comes off as someone who might have the Deatheater equivalent of Dale Carnegie stuffed under his mattress, and who studiously takes notes at night when no one can see him.
So his behavior toward Neville in the Great Hall scene maybe doesn't seem like undifferentiated boorishness and overreaching, but more specifically like the behavior of someone who thinks there are particular gimmicks, particular techniques, for "winning friends" (or at least influencing people) that he needs to learn and practice. The offered handshake in PS/SS similarly seems a bit precious for an eleven-year-old -- and doomed by its awkwardness because what self-respecting kid wouldn't turn it down? The almost avuncular tone Draco takes when cautioning the Trio in the QWC forest scene is a bit pompous, and maybe it's hard for a reader to figure this scene out because Draco hasn't figured it out, he's just striking a pose, playing with a role. He's unusually awkward at this stuff because he's not naturally dominant, he's more a natural back-bencher, a clown, a Black rather than a Malfoy. He's more comfortable -- and more effective -- snarking and being funny and coming up with clever pranks to amuse his friends. But something (his father?) drives him to be more, makes him feel discontented with only being part of the crowd.
[continued . . . ]